Letters 04-11-10

Monday

Apr 12, 2010 at 9:47 AMApr 12, 2010 at 9:49 AM

Let's create a Valley-wide chamber

Tuesday the Apple Valley Town Council will again be in turmoil because a few folks won't quit kicking around the "Country Club" political football. But also on the agenda that night is a contract award to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

This award was prompted by a request from Hispanic Chamber Director Mrs. Vicky Cabriales (the mayor of Victorville's spouse) to Councilman Rick Roelle, who has close ties to the organization. The Hispanic chamber's own president was unaware of the request when asked about it. The Victorville council has decided to severely restrict the funds it allots to its own chamber, so there is only one flush municipality in the valley left to tap, Apple Valley.

The Apple Valley Chamber of Commerce has had a performance contract with the town for two years that calls for a number of activities related to business development and retention efforts. While there is a role for a Hispanic chamber in the valley, since their office, employees and a majority of the board reside in Victorville, I don't see the point in just "awarding them money." I can't honestly see the Hispanic chamber, with its close ties to Victorville, promoting Apple Valley as the best place to locate a business, nor have they been active in our grand openings or our Apple Valley business promotion events.

If anything, this move for funding clearly shows that it may be time for all the businesses in the Victor Valley to consider a consolidated "Greater Victor Valley Chamber of Commerce" with local branches dedicated to each city. Separate ethnic chambers (Hispanic, African-American, etc.) originated as booster clubs to help nurture minority business ownership, a laudable goal. But the "pool" of business members for all chambers has shrunk and the duplication of effort doesn't make financial sense.

California's Hispanic population is on the rise, and any business not sensitive to the customer needs of this demographic will suffer, but paying out scarce tax dollars in order to show we are supportive without measurable services in return isn't be best use of the town's funds.

Pat Orr

Apple Valley

Out of context

Re: "Were his lips moving?" (David Hansen, Letters, April 8).

Thanks to Mr. Hansen for proving my point. "Obamacare" does not include prison sentences and IRS "enforcers." This is just another big lie from the right. And the quotes Mr. Hansen provides from Howard Dean and John Dingell are, as usual, incomplete and out of context.

As for President Obama and Al Gore being lawyers, so are most of the Republicans attacking them. How do you know when a Republican is lying? His lips are moving on Fox News.

We do agree on one thing though. We should be able to hear equally from both sides and make our own decisions.

Donna Pelonis

Hesperia

•

Much as I dislike it, I'm afraid I have to disagree with David Hansen about President Obama's lies concerning raising taxes. Obama didn't actually lie when he said those making less than $250,000 a year would "not see your taxes raise one single dime." He just didn't tell all of the story. He should have said, "You will not see your taxes raise one single dime. They will raise by a whole lot of dimes." And that is before your state raises its taxes to pay for their new federally mandated state health-care responsibilities. How much more, federal and state, will we be socked to support the amnesty' and cap and trade bills if they, too, become law?

You have to pay attention, because sometimes what is said is not nearly so important as what is not said. And politicians are expert at that.

Robert D. Doggett

Victorville

Socialist handwriting

In a discussion of President Obama's agenda with two of my liberal friends, they disagreed it was socialist. That's when I suddenly awoke from my stupor and realized what has been staring me in the face after all these years of political discussion with them. They are in fact progressive socialists themselves, so they can't see the handwriting on the wall.

I told them straight out that they are socialists, and as it turns out they deny it simply because they don't like the word. I found this out after I pointed out the specific ideology that socialism (without using the word) represents in the form of a question to them, and they answered, "Yes, that describes my political thinking." I then asked one to look up the definition in the dictionary and read it out loud. Needless to say, they still refused to connect the socialist dots.

Therein lies the problem with progressive liberals; try as they might to twist and turn the facts of reality, they can't or won't even admit to what they truly are, and neither will our socialist president.

Darrel Hagen

Victorville

Hoarding the pork

I like an old but now seldom-told story about a man newly persuaded to the wonders of socialistic largesse and his conversation with a visitor:

"If you had two horses, would you give one to your poor neighbor?" the visitor asked. "As sure as you are standing there, that's what I would do!"

"And if you had two cows, would you give one to your poor neighbor?" "As you live and breathe, that's what I would do, and mighty glad to do it!"

"And if you had two pigs, would you give one to your poor neighbor?" "No sir, there's where I draw the line. You know I've got two pigs," replied the man in his evolving understanding of largesse.

Robert Starbuck

Apple Valley

The local business scene

I was very pleased to see three to five local stories dealing with matters of business in the Victor Valley in recent issues of the Daily Press.

It seems that most of the time the business section is mainly made up of national stories which, do not get me wrong, are important. But local stories help me use the newspaper in my classroom more effectively because my high school students see how the local economy is being impacted.

As a high school business teacher, using the Daily Press has helped my students tremendously to understand, number one, how important knowing about business matters are, and number two, how important it is to read the newspaper on a regular basis. By reading the Daily Press, my students improve their reading skills as well as their overall knowledge of current affairs and financial matters.

Thanks to the Daily Press for covering local issues and helping educate our next generation, because if students do not see the relevance of getting an education in general, they will drift away from what matters.

Michael Krause

Victorville

Factless venting

I wish that people writing anonymous items in the Daily Press/Talkback would get their facts straight before venting. The Walmart in Apple Valley has already sold its building and actually is a tenant of the building. Walmart was expecting to have a Supercenter built in Apple Valley by now. Most of the opposition to Walmart is led by out-of-town interests, some of which are opposed because Walmart is a non-union institution.